The News-Press reiterates its political endorsements in the coming week’s highly consequential election, as noted on the front page of this edition, doing so with a heightened purpose stemming from the enormous furor that has erupted in the last week of decisions at the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times by their billionaire owners to withhold the endorsements of Kamala Harris by their respective editorial and opinion departments. Now the Gannett newspaper chain has jumped in with the same non-endorsement policy.
This is no ordinary presidential election. One candidate is imminently qualified. The other is a convicted felon, liar, grifter, fascist and profound danger to the U.S. in ways that can’t be denied and have repeatedly been confirmed in news reports in the very papers that are now refusing to endorse. This refusal is grounded in a fear of retaliation by Donald Trump should he win, and as such constitutes the very face of fascism. Truly, the choices in this election are between the “to do list” of Harris and the “enemies list” of Trump.
Our endorsements, first published in this space on the eve of the onset of early voting last month, are these: Kamala Harris for U.S. president, incumbent Tim Kaine for re-election to the U.S. Senate, incumbent Don Beyer for re-election to the U.S House, and former School Board chair Laura Downs to a one-year term to fill a vacancy on the Falls Church City Council.
We are proud of our responsible role in this, and we take it very seriously. We have been doing it for candidates and ballot proposals in every election since the mid-1990s, and our recommendations have been adopted by majorities in Falls Church elections in every case but for one candidate since then in the context of the fact that voters in the City of Falls Church have led all Virginia jurisdictions in election turnout every time over that period. We are confident that this time will be no exception, as over 50 percent of eligible voters already cast their ballots in advance of the Nov. 5 official election day.
This time, our choice of Downs for the F.C. City Council is very important, given her superior role as chair of the Falls Church School Board through the pandemic, when conflicts were acute between parents wanting their children in the school rooms and teachers who refused to show up until all students had been vaccinated and tested negative for the Covid-19 virus. Downs and Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan handled that crisis with deft leadership, leading to the unprecedented election of Downs to a second successive term as the board’s chair.
Downs’ opponent, lifelong City resident John Murphy, has also been a contributor to civic activities here, including as chair of the Board of Zoning Appeals. But unlike the elected School Board role that Downs filled so well through the pandemic, Murphy’s position was appointed and held 15 years ago.
